My idea of a good childcare center

I started to look for a childcare center two weeks back, I visited three centers so far, there are good and bad points and I have not made up my mind on which one yet. In fact I have called a few more to check on vacancies. It is indeed a difficult decision to make! In desperation I went online in search for other people’s feedbacks or advises, I ended in some popular local parenthood forums but I had so say the result was not a very satisfying one. Many people are just as unsure as me. Some are overly negative or criticizing, just because they had one negative experience, they talked bad about the center all the time. Hardly I can have consistently positive comments about any one center.

After I became tired from my online searching I decided to quiet down and reflect, what am I really looking for? What are the things that I hold dear to my heart? What’s the ideal environment I want my child to grow up in? After much thinking it became clearer to me. Prices and locations are actually at the top of the list, but before I start my search, I have already narrowed down the options base on my budget and my living location, hence with them excluded, below are the things that are really important to me, in order of priority.

(1)   Loving and caring principal and teachers

Before you visit a childcare center, you call the center to make an appointment, and you would have a chance to speak to either the principal or the supervisor on the phone, that encounter pretty much can give you a first impression of how the principal and teachers are like. If I call a center and the principal or whoever is in charge is too busy, too occupied and too impatient to answer my queries, I am already not very keen to visit the center.

I called one center two times and I spoke to the principal and supervisor on each occasion and both of them gave me extremely good impression over the phone. They spoke gently, they were very patient answering my questions, and they are genuinely excited at meeting me up. To tell you the truth, this center is now my top 3 options even though I am yet to visit them next week, and the internet has very little information about them.

This is how important a good teacher is to me. I want to see childcare center teachers loving and caring, they also must be patient and encouraging, and they also need to be firm when it comes to disciplining the children, and they should be happy and passionate about their work and the children.

(2)   Emphasize on good behaviors and values

Basically I want to see the teaching not just focus on intellectual development, but also emphasize on children’s character development, especially for the younger age group (Playgroup and Nursery). It is equally important as intellectual development and often it is difficult to correct and un-train later if they are not properly trained from start. Some of the things I would like to see are:

1.      Be polite to people (Saying “Please”, ‘Thank you” and “Sorry”)

2.      Be gentle, kind and caring to others (Helping others, sharing toys with others, show concern to a sick friend)

3.      Be obedient and with good self-control (Be quiet during class, do not play toys when told not to)

4.      Be patient (Taking turns for food/snack, taking turns to play a certain toy)

Two or three year olds are in the sense “social morons” because they are self-centered. Hence it is vital the childcare center preaches these values and ensures they are being emphasized in daily activities.

Of course these things are abstract and hence we can’t tell till we ask the teachers how they conduct their classes or we go for the trial lessons ourselves.

(3)   Environment

Most childcare centers, at least those I have been to, are bright, cheerful and clean. The rooms are organized and you can see display of pictures and artwork everywhere. That’s great. But I would also like to see the place being quiet and homely. There is one center I visited, it was located at the ground floor of a multi-story carpark, hence the area is really spacious, but they do not have separate rooms for different classes, instead dividers are used to separate each class. Although it looked very pleasant and orderly, I was not keen in the center because I can imagine how noisy the whole place is going to be when class starts, especially from the K1 and K2 group, the children will never be able to learn to be quiet and focus. I prefer each class is in a separate room.

Another important criteria for me is spacious outdoor play area. I can’t imagine my child being confined in an air-con room for 11-12 hours a day. I myself will be bored to death if I do, let alone the little children. The ideal childcare center should have an outdoor playground, with organized outdoor activities daily, for the children to get some sun, to run about and work out themselves. Unfortunately a lot of childcare centers at residential blocks (HDB flats in Singapore context) do not have outdoor facilities; hence I am looking at a few centers at the private estate though they are further and slightly more inconvenient to access.

(4)   Curriculum

When you have loving teachers and good environment, the curriculum becomes secondary. Most registered centers do have a well developed curriculum to cover every aspect of a child’s intellectual development, including language, mathematics, arts and craft, music and movement, speech and drama, some even have science and computer class at this young age. Different centers may have different approaches, like I shared before, being it multiple intelligence, or Montessori, or integrated learning approach, holistic approach, child-centered approach, etc.

They all look fine to me and I can hardly tell which is better than the other. Important thing is, I prefer childcare center to do more reading to children and to encourage a love for books. A love for reading will almost lead to excellence in study when the kids are in school. That’s what I believe. And I strongly believe in multi-linguistic, in this aspect, most childcare centers are doing very well. An equal amount of effort dedicated to both English and Chinese, is what I would love to see. Enrichment classes are good but I am most likely going to enroll her only from K1 onwards.

I am still looking and it seems so difficult to find one that meets all the criteria and expectation. Good luck to myself.

Meet Kah Yen's friends

Finally I got some photos of Kah Yen and all her friends. Her friends have been mentioned by me here and there before. As you have probably guessed, they are already part of the family.






Baby Pooh - Baby Pooh is the all time favorite. It is irreplaceable. It is huggable and kissable no matter how many times it drops on the floor and how dirty it looks. Its backside is especially prefered because it is more cuddly (and maybe more tasty, I don't know because I never tasted it). When I first picked Baby Pooh from the discount section of the toy store at mere $6, I was extremely worried that I would be laughed by the husband for making a lousy and "cheap" choice. Truth is, Kah Yen fell in love with it at first sight and never wanted to be seperated from it again, except bath time. Baby Pooh is the only privileged member who follows us everywhere we go - to Malaysia, China and Indonesia. The next thing we need to do is probably applying a proper passport for him!

Piglet - Piglet is Baby Pooh's best friend in the Winnie-the-Pooh classics. At our home, she continues to be a best friend by always staying behind Baby Pooh. She never tries to take the front seat, never tries to win favor. She is a little bit quiet and timid, but Kah Yen loves her too, just a little less than Baby Pooh. When we have to wash Baby Pooh on emergency cases, Kah Yen would first cry for Baby Pooh but after a few minutes she would go to hug Piglet and be contented enough to sleep.

Tigger - Tigger is small in size but it has a bright and cheerful countenance and a broad smile. So it will stand out among all others even though it is a size smaller. The only thing I have against Tigger is it interferes with my teaching Kah Yen name of animals, because everything tiger or tiger-like has become "tigger'' instead.

Donkey - Donkey actually has a real name Eeyore, but it is too difficult to pronounce so we call him Donkey instead. Donkey is the smallest among them all. He is so grey that he looks gloomy all the time. He also looks like a lazy fellow 'coz he lies on his stomack all the time. I hardly think it will become a favorite soft toy of anyone's, we bought it because we want to make the Pooh family more complete. It is nevertheless a faith friend by always being there and never complains.

That's my version of Kah Yen's friends. I wonder how Kah Yen will introduce them when she is old enough to tell. And the above photos of them altogether is typically seen at bedtime, after she was changed and ready to read a book. It is a ritual of hers to have them all on our bed to read together.

They surely enjoy themselves every night.

The world's most popular bird

I was the one picking up Kah Yen last night. I carried her in one hand, and pushed the stroller with the other into the lift. The light inside the lift was dim. And as we turned around and the lift door closed, Kah Yen pointed at something on the floor and said "Aiya!" - her usual exclamation when she sees something dirty or broken. I looked down on the floor, there was a small piece of slighted crumpled paper on the floor, it is about the size of a 50 cents coin, but it is not round, it is irregular shape. It is red in color. And many people must have stepped on it, because it looked dirty.

"It is just a dirty sticker." I told Kah Yen. Her eyes were still fixing on it.

"Aagery beard" She said something.

"What? What did you say Kah Yen?" I seriously had no idea what she was talking about.

"Aagery beard" She repeated it again.

It sounded familiar. I must have heard this word before from elsewhere. It was the first time I heard Kah Yen saying it and I searched my memory on all the things I have taught her. I don't recall anything similar to this word.

When she pointed and said it persistently the third time - I could hear from her rising volume she was demanding an acknowledgement from me. The lift was almost going to reach the ground floor, so I quickly bended down, pushed my glass closer to my eyes and suddenly it all came clear to me. It is the red color angry bird!

A lot of things went through my mind in the next 5 seconds.

"Wow, Kah Yen is really a very observant girl."
"Good that her eyesight is much better than Mummy's."
"She can say the word 'Angry bird' pretty well. She is surely learning to talk fast."
"Wait! I have never taught her the word 'Angry bird'!"
"Where did she get to know about 'Angry bird'? We have never showed her the video game, we have not a single angry bird related toy in our house."
"It must be Korkor at our Nanny's place. He likes to play video games on iPad."
"I hope Kah Yen is not learning to play video games from him."

...


And guess what? The final thought that came into my mind which rendered all the others trivialities is that I have to agree angry bird is really a popular and influential bird.

Seriously, neither my husband nor myself ever played this game, we don't have it in our smart phone. We never bought anything related to the bird. She has probably saw our Nanny's 5-ear old grandson played with it on his iPad. She must have overheard him saying the word. And then she can identity a dirty and creaseD angry bird sticker at the corner of a dusky lift, when Mummy can't even see clearly what is it.

To add on when I was teaching her ABC, she never said the word "Bird" when I asked her what is 'B', she said the chinese word "Niao niao" instead. So I thought she found "Bird" too difficult to pronounce or she couldn't comprehend that the same thing can be called in two different names (Chinese and English).

So I guess it is no doubt angry bird can be called the world's most popular bird. And I am just glad she has not learnt to ask "Mummy Can I play angry bird?" yet.

20-month and counting

Kah Yen is growing up really fast. She is going to be 21-month old soon. For her language development, she is picking up words daily and she can repeat short sentences after us. She speaks both English and Chinese. For her physical development, she barely walks now, she runs all the time when we are out in the park. For her behavior, she seldom has tantrum or meltdown, except when she was not feeling well, she may be a bit more whining.

She likes to observe what bigger kids are doing and follow them. For example, sitting on the "swing" side by side with this Jiejie in the playground. This big girl is a sweet four years old whom I see very often in our neighborhood. She adores Kah Yen and even asked once if I can leave Kah Yen with her to babysit while I go alone with my grocery shopping.

Being like one of the big kids

And since big kids can climb up this structure she also wants to give it a shot.

Doing what the big kids do

She doesn't have much chance to play with other toddlers because she doesn't attend any playgroup yet and most of our friends with kids are not staying nearby, hence it is hard to arrange any playdate. I try to bring her to the neighborhood playground as often as I can, so that she has a chance to play with other kids. Although most of time they still play on their own, it is still heartwarming to see moments like this, when they start to show some social interaction.

Trying to be social

She is also able to focus much longer during playtime. Her favorite activites are still drawing board, sticker book, building blocks, crayon and ball. This tiny toy was in her toy basket since she was born but she never played with it for more than a minute - usually involved only shaking it and throwing it. The other day she took it out by accident and I like how engrossed she looks while playing with it after I showed her how.

Learning to be focus

She continues to love books and library trips, although the two do not link at all to her, because she hardly sits still and read books in the library. It is more of a place for her to run about, play hide-and-seek, pull as many books as possible off the shelf and bring to Mummy. She enjoys her library trip so much that we have concluded it is the cheapest and happiest trip of all for her and for us. If your family has not started going to library as a ritual, you totally should. This is from our last trip to the library, again she can be doing anything other than reading books, anything also includes being like a real model.

Acting like a grown up

Flower expert

I have not done any research on childcare curriculums before I start to search for a childcare center for Kah Yen. It seems there are many different methodologies out there. Multiple Intelligence – heard about it from my own community involvement last time; Montessori – kind of know what it is about yet can’t fully comprehend it; others like integrated learning approach, thematic approach, holistic teaching, child-centered teaching etc all sound like the same thing with a different name to me.

Anyway, the fact is, every childcare center seems to adopt a different way of teaching, and since I am not an early childhood education expert, I decide to choose childcare center base more on location and environment and price, and as for the curriculum, I let my first impression guide me.

I went to visit this childcare center yesterday. The distance is a bit far from where we are going to stay but the environment is lovely. It is a three-storey bungalow located in a quiet private estate, with big outdoor play area, which is definitely a draw for me. Every classroom is bright and full of display of children’s artwork. I met a principal who is young and passionate and extremely friendly. I went there after a long day’s work and more than an hour of traveling but meeting her kind of made my day. Back in my mind I have already decided this childcare center is going to be in my top 3 list.

Everything seems to be perfect. Now it is time to find out more about the curriculum. I was told their approach is integral. They don’t have separate classes for Language or Math or Science, all these will be integrated into one single lesson. That sounds perfectly all right to me. Then she went on to explain that their teaching materials is also theme-based, which means each term there is a theme and all the teaching will resolve around the theme. For example, the theme for this term is Flower & Plant, and the next may be Transport.

I don’t know if other childcare centers also adopt the theme-based approach. From a layman’s point of view, I just feel that it might be too restrictive and the children’s exposure will be limited - spending a term of three months studying about one subject. Okay I am not a flower expert but how many things you have to teach them about flowers which can last you 3 months? Different species of flowers, different colors of flowers, flowers grow in different continents and seasons, how does a flower grow? How to grow a garden? … The list may go on a bit longer but you see, I have no intention of my child becoming a flower expert at two years old.

I am not an early childhood education expert but I did read books like “Magic Trees of the Mind: How to Nurture Your Child's Intelligence, Creativity, and Healthy Emotions from Birth Through Adolescence” (Okay, I did not read, I flipped through, ‘coz the book is too thick and too full of research and data for an ordinary parent like me to read it in detail.) I knew how powerful a child’s mind is. They can understand and absorb information much faster than they learn to talk. At two years old, they are learning 10-20 new words each day. And I can’t imagine they spend three months hearing only words like flower, garden, roses, violet etc everyday.

And talking about transport, Kah Yen at the age of one-and-a-half, already knew scooter, bicycle, motorbike, car, bus, train, truck and airplane (though she may not pronounce all of them accurately yet), in fact her interest in transport has grown further to lorry and forklift and even excavator, thanks to the new building project right behind our block. Just last week I borrowed from the library this book “Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site” – a delightful read-aloud picture book for the truck-loving toddlers and preschoolers, and she won’t get her eyes off the pictures.

I personally believe that our children should be exposed to more variety of reading materials at a young age. My idea of a childcare center should have different themes for different day of the week, and then repeat the same for every week. For example, Monday we can have flower or garden theme, from there we can also teach colors and weather. Tuesday we can have animal theme, from there we can teach numbers and also virtues such as kindness to animals. Wednesday we can have transport, from there we can also teach about sizes, for example scooter is small and motorbike is big, train is long and bus is short. Thursday we can focus on manners and behaviors by reading books on them. Friday we can be slightly flexible, we can even expose them to feelings and emotions. How does that sound?

So that I don’t have a toddler coming back from school asking me what a “Bouvardia” is. I knew nothing about flowers you see, I just googled that up.

"God with him, so sad!"

One of the most enjoyable things about the toddler year is to see the toddlers learning to talk. From babbling at 3-4 months to uttering their first "Dada" or "Mama" somewhere near one year old, they have come a long way. And the moment they have turned 18-month old, they start to put words into short phases and sentences, and try to copy everything you say. But they may not fully understand the meaning of the word they say or the appropriate way to use it, which results in some funny moments. 

Kah Yen is at this stage right now. She can pick up almost every word or phase I say to her and repeat it non-stop. For example, before we cuddle and read a book, I will point in front of me and say "Kah Yen sit here", and she will grab Baby Pooh and say "Ah Pooh sit here", and so on to Piglet and Tigger and that's how I ended up reading to a zoo every night. After I wear clothes for her I will say "Kah Yen is so pretty!", and she will point at me and say "Mummy so pretty!", and then at Daddy and say "Daddy so pretty!" despite Daddy insisting that he should look handsome instead.

Other times she copies me without really understand what does it mean.

(1) "Kah Yen help"

Kah Yen was trying to buckle her safety belt in the stroller, after trying for very long, Mummy was afraid that she would get too frustrated so I decided to offer my help.

Mummy: Come, Mummy help.

Kah Yen: No, Kah Yen help!

Mummy: Do you mean "Kah Yen do"?

Kah Yen: No, Kah Yen help!

Mummy: ...

(2) Walk slowly

Kah Yen was walking very fast in the park, I was afraid she would fall, so I told her "Kah Yen, walk slowly". She stopped and looked at me for a moment. I was glad that she understood what I mean, or I thought so. Because before I knew it, she started running away from me while chanting "Walk slowly! Walk slowly!". 

(3) So sad

She learnt the word "happy" and "sad" long ago, even with facial expressions. So I thought she understood these emotional words very well. The other day I was reading her bible story at bedtime, as we usually do. The story was about Joseph the boy, his father likes him and gives him a pretty coat, his brothers do not like him and sell him to Egypt. 

Mummy: Joseph was sold to Egypt, no more pretty coat to wear, so sad.

Kah Yen: No more pretty coat, so sad!

Mummy: But it is okay, because God is with him.

Kah Yen: God with him, so sad!

Mummy: (Speechless)

Dealing with Toddler fears

I am increasingly finding my 20-month old toddler running to me at the sound of any loud and sudden noise, or burying her face on my shoulder when a stranger approaches or stares, and refusing to step into the living room till I switch on the lights. Yes she has developed some real toddler fears.

I choose to believe that her fears are developmental – typical of children her age, instead of calling her timid. Though her fear is so excessive sometimes that it does worry us a little.

(1)   Fear of sudden loud noises

Be it the machine from construction site nearby, the rubbish collection truck that comes behind our block daily, the water running down the drain when we flush the toilet, the thunder in a stormy weather, or even the vibration of our washing machine, all these noises will send her running to us and asking to be carried immediately.

(2)   Fear of strangers

She often buries herself on my shoulder when people step inside the lift. When she is walking in the park, a stranger passing by will make her halt and stand still till the person has passed her. Indians also intimidate her because of their skin color. Last Sunday we were in a small family restaurant for lunch, and while I was feeding her I observed she had slowly bended her head till her chin was almost touching the table, her eyes were fixing on the table, and she was extremely quiet and still. I found her action very weird until I realized the old man at the cashier, he looked all grim and sullen and he just sat there and stared at all the people in the restaurant. Kah Yen must have caught his eyes and was frightened. We had to quit our lunch early and come back home to feed her.

(3)   Fear of dark

Strictly speaking darkness has not created much fear in her yet because she is still falling asleep on her own perfectly well every night after lights out, but she often refuses to enter into the living room when we come back from outside in the evening, until I enter and switch on the light.

Conquering the babyslide

Like what I said, I believe her fears are common and are developmental. With little life experience, little knowledge of the world around them, increasing memory and growing imagination, it is not uncommon that she have changed from innocent and acting on instinct infant to a toddler who becomes fearful of the unknown. I have been thinking and reading about how to handle toddler fears and here are what I gathered.

(1)  Acknowledge their feelings, their fears are real

They may be irrational, but they are real. Ignoring or pretending a fear doesn’t exist often intensifies it and makes it the basis of other fears.

Don’t laugh at them or tease them about their fears. Acknowledge their feelings and offer your support. For the restaurant case, we brought her back home to feed her lunch.

(2) Give your support, don’t force them to confront

When they are fearful, carry them and hold them. Let them feel secure and protected. Reassure them that you won’t let anything hurt them.

Don’t force your toddler to confront. It could really scare them and even turn fear into a phobia. Our sensitive support and understanding combine with gradual exposure will help them to grow out of their fears eventually.

(3) Control your own fear, it is contagious

In some situations maybe you are also caught off-guard, don’t jump on your feet or panic. Your fear is contagious. I remembered once when I was reading with Kah Yen on our bed, the wind suddenly blew and our bedroom door was slammed close. I was shocked and a bit scared myself and I soon sensed she was looked up cautiously from her book. Our fear can easily pass to them. Be calm and let them see you are in charge and there is nothing to be fearful of.

(4)   Teach them the knowledge

Fear is often from the unknown. So show them the things that cause them fear and explain about them. I often carry her to our kitchen window to show her rubbish collection truck passing by and what the cleaners are doing. I also sit with her in front of our washing machine to watch the clothes turning inside and the water gushing in and explain to her the machine is washing our clothes. I read books to her about thunders and storms.

(5)   Root out sources of fear in their lives

We never read any storybooks on monsters or witches or unknown giant creatures to her. She was not exposed to any TV or video program that might expose her to such things too

(6)   Don’t scare your toddler yourself

Unknowingly you could be the person that introduces certain fear in them. Sometimes we give them warnings like “If you don’t be a good girl, the police will come and catch you” etc, these threats are really unnecessary and unhealthy and they only serve to induce fear in our children.

When our toddlers are fearful, we parents should always be positive and encouraging. Instead of saying, “Don’t be afraid”, “Don’t act like a baby”, assure them you understand their fears and encourage them to overcome them. When the children are bigger, we can even share with them our own childhood stories of our fears and how we overcame them. Take heart. Many fears are simply outgrown when the toddler matures into a more confident preschooler.

PS: Part of this post is from WHAT TO EXPECT - THE TODDLER YEARS book.

Happy National Day

We spent the first half of National Day public holiday viewing our future houses and the second half doing some craft activity with Kah Yen - making a paper flag as I have promised her.

Some background of the promise. As most of us are aware, with National Day draws near, almost every street and every building of Singapore is decorated with the National Flag. Kah Yen was fascinated by the colorful displays everywhere, as she usual did with new things. Everytime we go out she will surely point at them and exclaimed "There are moon and stars" - for she does not know the word "flag" yet. But eventually she learnt this new word thanks to National Day.

By the time she woke up from her late afternoon nap it was nearly 5pm. I had to start preparing dinner in the kitchen so Daddy volunteered to make the flag with her. He first cut the red and white paper for the background, then cut out the crescent moon and the five stars. Kah Yen helped by applying glue on the moon and stars and sticking them on the paper. It was quite an easy project and they did it in a short 15 minutes.

It was a very nice flag. But.....it was not until I placed it with another real mini-flag side by side to take photo, did I realize that Daddy had made a careless mistake! The national flag background was halved horizontally, with the red above the white, the moon and stars are in red and are pasted on the white background. And he did exactly the opposite!

I thought I will have some lovely photos to show here after our activity but on a second note we'd better not post the photos since it might be viewed as offensive by some people.

So here is a photo of Kah Yen with the mini-flag we bought from the bookstore. And here is happy National Day to all Singaporeans!




Happy National Day Singapore



I miss my daughter

Suddenly I miss my daughter so much.

No I am not on a business trip or a holiday without her. I am in my office, it is an ordinary weekday. The fact is I have not seen her (other than sleeping) for the past 24 hours! Yesterday morning when I left her and the husband to work, she was still sleeping. Last night I had a date night with my girl friends, she was put to bed by Daddy at the usual time. This morning again I left to work with her still sleeping.

I miss her dearly, right now.

I miss her sweet voice shouting "Mummmmy!" across the house, reacheing me in the kitchen, or the study room, or the bathroom, no matter where I am. She has not learnt to control her volume yet, so sometimes the sound pierces right into your ears. But I like it.

I miss her jumping up to her feet on her bed when she sees me coming into the room in the morning (during weekends). The smile and the excitement on her face is like the first sunbeam that enters into the house from the window - warm and bright.

I miss her running towards me with her Baby Pooh every day when I appear at our Nanny's door step to pick her up. She runs so fast that our Nanny always has to chase after her to make her wear shoes.

I miss carrying her home. Though she is growing heavier by the day and I have to carry her with one arm and push the stroller with the other. I miss her little arms around my neck and her face touching my face.

I miss having her sitting around us for dinner. She is contented to sit still and play with her toys in our presence. When Hubby and I shared something that made us laugh, she'd quickly join the laugh too as if she is also in the conversation and fully understands what we were talking about. We love her presence as much as she loves ours.

I miss cuddling her and reading to her each night on our bed, surrounded by her Baby Pooh, Piglet and Tigger which she insists sitting with us to read together. I miss her sound and actions when we read "Moo, Baa, La La La" and her quietness and attentiveness when we read "Corduroy' the bear who is lonesome in a department store and who is longing for a friendship, even though I doubt she even understands half the story.

I miss reading the bible to her just before lights out. She'd have already retrieved to her own bed. Most of the time she will lie quietly on her bed soaking in the presence of the Lord. I always believe the Word speaks life into her. She could be jumping, singing a moment ago but the minute I start to read the bible, she becomes quiet.

I miss my daily prayer to her. I miss her repeating after me "God loves you". I miss her saying "Amen" with a chuckle.

I miss kissing her good night.

I miss her wispering to me "Good night, Mummy" when I teaches her to.

I miss standing beside her bed and looking at her sleeping like an angel.

I miss her so much.

Welcome back to the beach

I have always wanted to bring Kah Yen to East Coast Park. It is one of my favorate places in Singapore. You may laugh at me. But true enough, everytime I went to East Coat Park I felt grateful that I am living in sunny Singapore. Where else you can just go to beach by taking a bus and crossing a few streets and there waits for you beach and park and chalet and delightful local food that costs you just a few dollars? Okay maybe the beach is nothing comparing to holiday destinations like Phuket or Bali or Maldives, or some other best destinations across the globe which I have never even heard of. But there is a reason they are called holiday destinations - a place you can afford to go maybe once or twice a year after playing around with your limited annual leaves, calculating your budget and sometimes even finding a place to dump the kids. Hey, here I am talking about a place you can go just every weekend and have your dinner there.

And I like the combination of tranquillity of the beach and liveliness of the park in one place, they exist together in such harmony. You can be jogging or cycling or skating or barbecuing with your friends in the park on one minute, on the next if you want a place to quiet down and do some reading or soul searching or sunset seeing or plainly enjoying a moment of nothingness. Welcome to the beach.

The first time we brought Kah Yen was when she was one year old. At one year old outings have to be carefully planned and crafted so that you don't disturb her two naps and you are still able to be back in time for her bedtime routine. That leaves us a three-hour window from 4pm to 7pm. I won't bother to give you too much details. To sum it all up, we sat on the beach mat for a mere 30 minutes before I hurried to feed her dinner under the dim street lights while Husband packed sandwiches, then off we went home.

The second time we manged to take an one-hour walk along the park and had a decent dinner at Carl's Junior. It was enjoyable. We saw the family bikes at Big Spash but it was too late to try. We promised to come back and ride the bike another time.

So last Saturday we went there again. This time we went in the morning, now that she had given up her morning nap, there is no better time than the morning to have an outing outdoor. To satisfy Kah Yen growing interest and curiosity in bicycles, we brought her to ride one of them - not the family bike though, because we figured she is big enough to sit securely on a normal bike (with baby chair and seat belt). Kah Yen's interest in bicycles can be proved by her learning it as one of her first words at around 16-month old. She uttered out this word at the same time when she learnt "Car" and "Bus" despite it having three syllables as compare to the other two words which are single-syllable. That was quite impressive.

We rode the bikes leasurely for one hour. Kah Yen was on Daddy's bike. Before we started I told Daddy to take every opportunity to show her new things so that she can learn new words, as I usually do. Later I was told by Daddy that he did not need to do the teaching at all, 'coz Kah Yen was the one pointing and narrating non-stop, saying things like "So many trees!", "So many leaves!", "So many bikes!", "Oh a dog! Woof Woof", "KorKor! KorKor rides a bike"... and once a while she would point at herself and say "Kah Yen ride a bike" with a blissful smile on her face, as if she has been waited for this day for years. It was totally awesome to her.

Afte the cycling we had our lunch at the Lagoon and went for a short walk nearby. Kah Yen was at this phase which most baby girls went through - she wants nothing to do with the beach and the sand. If there is one single sand entered into her shoes by accident, you will see the whole family in action, with me carrying her and Daddy taking off her shoes and wiping her feet, right in the middle of the road. She does not find the sea and waves very friendly too. I hope her fear will soon pass and we can bring her to build beach castles.

As for now, she is happy just to walk on the small road.